(.-iC'"f.) ACHPR • .,.y,' , a:rmn"" " African Commission on Human and Peoples' Hiqhts Human Rights our Collective Responsibility has a duty not only to consult with the community, but also to obtain their free, prior, and informed consent, according to their customs and traditions." 198. The Commission is inspired by the decision of the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Apirana Mnhuika v New Zealand (Mahuika case),54 where the Committee held tha t the enjoyment of the right of minority communities to their own culture "may require positive legal measures of protection by a State party and measures to ensure the effective participation of members of minority communities in decisions which affect them." The Committee noted that: the accepiabilibj of measures that affect or interfere with the culturally significant economic activities of a minori hJ depends on whether the members of the niinoritsj in question have had the opportuniiu to participate in the decision-making process in relation to these measures and whether they will continue to benefit from their traditional economy. 55 199. In this case, there is no doubt that as pastoralist and flood-retreat farmers, the Omo peoples have deep ties to their ancestral lands on which they depend for their economic and cultural wellbeing and survival. Where indigenous peoples only seek to exercise the right to self-determination in conformity with the territorial integrity of a state, it should be understood to include the right, first, to be duly and adequately consulted before commencing a proposed development project and, second, to give or withhold their free, prior and informed consent to a proposed project. 200. Pursuant to Article 60 of the African Charter, the Commission is able to draw inspiration from the work of the United Nations in this regard. Under Article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Article 1(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 1(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the right of indigenous communities to effectively participate in important decisions affecting them is recognised as an integral part of the right to self-determination= 201. Also, the UN Expert Mechanism Advice No.2 (2011)on Indigenous peoples and the right to participate in decision-making has, in its interpretation of Article 3 of the UNDRIP, recognised the right to free, prior and informed consent within the context of the right to self-determination. In the Advice No.2, the UN Expert Mechanism observed that the requirements of consultation and free, prior and Communication No. 547/1993, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/70/D/517/1993 case (n 54 above) para 9.5. 56 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Article 3. 54 (2000) par 55 Mahuika ~------~------------------~~~--~~~ . ..\n Organ of the AfriGan (l' ":] Union 'riJs;f 41